Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects
Access Control
Open Access
Degree Program
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Degree Track
Family Nurse Practioner
Year Degree Awarded
2016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/8543984
Month Degree Awarded
May
Keywords
sudden cardiac death, athlete, sport, screening, prevention, criteria, electrocardiogram
Advisor
Elizabeth A Henneman
DNP Project Chair
Elizabeth A Henneman
DNP Project Member Name
Pamela Aselton
DNP Project Outside Member Name
Pierre A Rouzier
Abstract
Background: In order to identify athletes at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD), comprehensive screening that includes ECG interpretation is needed. Many primary care providers, including physicians and nurse practitioners, have reservations about including electrocardiograms (ECG) in the screening process because they lack confidence in their ability to correctly identify normal variants in the ECG of an athlete.
Method: An educational program with previously validated interpretation criteria for normal variants of the athletic heart was presented to providers at a university based healthcare clinic the Northeast. A pre and post design was used to compare the accuracy of ECG interpretation.
Results: A total of 13 providers participated in the study. The educational program increased the accuracy of ECG interpretations. A significant decrease of false positive rates (from 21% +/-14 to 13% +/- 9 (p=0.013) occurred following participation in the educational course.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of an education intervention in increasing the accuracy of ECG interpretation by primary care providers.
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